Clearing Your Hard Drive in Your Gainesville Apartment

When getting rid of an old computer, people often forget to clear their hard drive. This is a risky mistake, since a great deal of personal information can be left on a hard drive after it’s thrown out or sold. It’s important to understand how to permanently remove data from a hard drive, so you can keep all of your personal data secure.

The most important thing you need to know about deleting files on your computer is that in most cases, you’re not erasing the actual data that makes up the file. Most of the time, all that gets removed is your operating system’s record of where the file is stored. Think of it as erasing a city from a map; even though you can’t use the map to find the city anymore, the city is still there. It’s possible for an identity thief to scan the disk and find these unmarked areas, then recover the data that’s stored on them.

There are two methods that can usually eliminate this stray data while keeping the hard drive useable. The first is to reformat the hard drive, which will write new data to virtually every part of the disk, reducing the amount of spots that have recoverable data. The second option is to use a separate clearing program which will overwrite the data of an erased file several times with random information, making it nearly impossible to recover the original.

A more permanent solution is to simply destroy your hard drive. Whether you break the drive apart or use a magnet to “degauss” it, destruction is the most reliable way to keep your data secure. However, if you’re trying to resell your computer, you may need to buy and install a replacement hard drive if you take this route.

When Bellamay Grand residents are having computer problems, they’re welcome to use the Internet-connected computer in our business center to help them find a solution. For more information on our Gainesville apartment community, contact us today.